Ascent
by Panda-sama Soto
Summary: She loved the feeling of wind in her pelt, the feeling of open air under her claws. The surface of the mountainous buildings as she climbed up their sides. The feeling of the smooth-surfaced shingles. This is the story of Sparrowpaw, Roofclan apprentice.
1. Chapter 1

She bounded across the shingles, enjoying the feeling of cold wind on her pelt. This was the first time she was allowed outside of the camp, without some warrior telling her where to step. In her clan, all kits obeyed the rules. One misstep here would mean death. She was just barely still a kit; she would be an apprentice soon. Running around the rooftops is a huge milestone, and if they got back, they would be apprenticed, and get her second feather. She only had one, which was a long and thin sparrow tail feather. Once a kit is old enough to see, they catch their first bird and take one of the feather's for their pelt. She had caught hers the same rainy day her sister had, out on one of the lower rooftops. She found a nest of swallows, and had killed one that was returning. The eggs hadn't even been laid yet. Depending on how they caught it, they would then be officially named. Kits weren't named until they could see. They weren't apprenticed until they returned from running the rooftops alone. If she didn't return though… she refused to think about it. She needed to focus.

The shingles were slanted, just enough so that any cat not used to the roofs would slip and fall to their deaths. All warriors were able to leap over the small alleyways. This gave them another advantage, so much that their clan hasn't been attacked in seasons. Not from other cats, at least. They still trained daily, but no amount of training could protect them against the twolegs. They lost many cats to their raids, and often the entire clan had to leave and move camp to a different place across the red tile city. Warriors and apprentices were given camp duty, which was when the pair would search for possible campsites in case the clan had to leave short-notice. It worked, at least so far.

Her black paws screeched to a halt at the edge of the roof. Her unusually long tail whipped forward over the thirty tail-length drop. That had been rather close. She needed to focus more.

Her eyes, dark in the dim morning light, scanned the small space, hoping for pelt wire. She looked down into the alley, but a dark shape caught her eye. It slinked around the edge of a waste bin, stepping carefully around the rain puddles. His red fur gleamed in the street lights. She sucked in a breath sharply. Bloodfang. Even amongst the Leaders of the clans, he was well-respected, almost feared. His ear turned slowly in her direction.

She froze, unable to think. He was rumored to have killed a kit before, but no one found any proof. Rooted to the spot, she stared as his yellow-orange eye slowly turned toward her.

"I can smell your pelt, young kit," his voice was soft and menacing. She stared, transfixed at the large rat claw mark over one eye. He was blinded as a young apprentice, and yet he rose to the most respected warrior. His tail swished from side to side slowly.

"I can see you, young kit," he stepped forward, inching to the fire escape. Her eyes widened and she tried to move. She couldn't, his eyes almost hypnotized her.

"I can kill you, young kit!" he yowled and darted swiftly up the stairs. His stranglehold on her thoughts broke, and she dashed across to the edge of the roof. She prayed that she would make it, she would rather fall to her doom than be chased, chased on her own territory, her own home! She glanced behind for a moment, and her heart almost stopped, he was already on the rooftop, and was dashing toward her!

She looked around desperately; she was almost on the edge of the roof. There was no other chance, she would have to jump. The width between the buildings was at least five tail-lengths, and there was no hope of running back around the edge. She only hoped he couldn't jump so far. The open air caught her mid-step, swallowing her. She fell, but a yowl wouldn't, _couldn't_, escape from her mouth. She was Rooftop Clan. She wasn't afraid of falling. Rooftop cats don't fall, they jump. Her claws, which had instinctively extended, suddenly tore with a horrible screech on a piece of two-leg pelt, hanging lazily off a pelt wire, had stopped her fall. The wire bounced with the weight of her small body. She scrambled across the pelts, and onto the other side. She leapt up to the roof, and stared across the alley. The warrior was gone, as if he had vanished. The alley was empty as well.

She sighed, relieved she had escaped, and then ran across the rest of the buildings. This area was more familiar, she could see it outside the rafters of the old and very large church her clan lived in, in the highest spire. The place smelled faintly of twolegs, but they never saw them. They lived in between the shingled roof and the ceiling of the attic. The space was open, airy, and higher than any other part of the city. It gave them the perfect view, and would warn them of any impending fire or storm.

She finally leapt down to a low building, and then onto the ground. This was the most treacherous part of her journey. Alleyclan considered most of the urban streets as part of their territory, especially at night. She bolted across, hoping her pale grey and reddish pelt wouldn't show so brightly in the night.

She darted easily up the oak tree next to a lower part of the church, and onto one of the only flat roofs in the city. The next part was easy, though it looked nearly impossible. The side of the largest tower of the church was rutted with many gutter pipes, ledges, gargoyles, and windows. It was simple to climb up, and it was second nature to a rooftop clan cat as well. Even if she needed to go inside the actually building, she would simply bolt up the steps and be mistaken for one of the stray kittypets that sometimes roamed the church, lost and forgotten. Their clan had accepted many of these loners, and most turned out to be exceptional warriors. Once they got used to the height, they could jump almost as well as true-born clan cats.

It took her a small amount of time to scale the wall, and soon she slinked into a crack in the building.

The camp was in the rafters of the attic, between the roof and the ceiling. The giant wooden beams criss-crossed the entire camp, and the clan used them to navigate. Around the edge of the room was a wide ledge, where they slept.

Warm scents flooded her nose, instantly the dim, gray, cold world was replaced with a dark, warm, and comforting one. She stretched, reveling in the feeling of her joints popping. She glanced around, all the warriors were awake (or, at least, they acted like it) as well as her mother and her littermates. They were gathered around the central supporting rafter, where Featherstar was sitting.

She held her chin with an air of confidence, proudly displaying her black feather, blue jay feather, hawk tail feather, and a downy pigeon feather. Her hawk-like yellow eyes stared down at her. The deputy, Windscar, sat next Featherstar. His blue-grey eyes were shut, and his tail twitched every couple seconds. Two of his feathers blended into his fur, the other bloodred one contrasted highly against the blackness. The other warriors sat five tail-lengths below, in a small crowd. Her mother and littermates sat on one of the many beams that extended away from the central column. To her dismay, she was the last to arrive. Both her littermates, Greykit and Rainkit, sat next to her mother, Ravenwing. Her mother's eyes snapped open and she called, "Sparrowkit!"

Her littermates suddenly woke up from their exhausted stupor, their eyes glittering with excitement. They bounded up to her along the rafter, rub their heads against her neck affectionately.

"We thought you wouldn't get back!" Rainkit exclaimed, her grey-blue eyes widening. Her small finch feather was tucked primly behind her ear. Greykit snorted, "Yeah, right, _you_ were the one pacing around and threatening to climb back down and search for her!"

Rainkit scowled and cuffed him on the ear.

Featherstar cleared her throat loudly. They whipped around, but it took a while as all three tried not to fall of the beam. They stared up at her, silent.

Sparrowkit instantly felt smaller, all the warriors were staring at her. She was distinctly aware of the large tuft of fur that had been blown askew by the wind. Featherstar suddenly yowled, "All cats of Roofclan, join your comrades by the center column and witness the beginning of three new warriors!" The rest of the clan cats groggily stood and gathered. They all looked up, and realizing that they were about to witness new apprentices being made, stood rigid with attention.

"These three kits are now six moons old, and are deemed ready to start their training as warriors. Rainkit, from this day forward you will be known as Rainpaw," Rainpaw looked up, startled she was to be called first. Featherstar continued, "Will you accept your new name, and therefore accept your new status as an apprentice?" Rainpaw nodded nervously, "Y-yes!"

"Then Rainpaw, your new mentor shall be Stormwing." A grim dark grey warrior slinked from the shadows, his three feathers neatly embedded into his fur. Sparrowkit then noticed that there were two other sets of glowing eyes. Stormwing stepped toward Rainpaw, and touched noses with her. Rainpaw followed him back down another beam, and she sat next to him, silent.

"Greykit, from this day forward you will be known as Greypaw. Will you accept your new name, and therefore accept your new status as an apprentice?" Greypaw nodded firmly, "Yes, I do."

"Then Greypaw, your new mentor will be Silverheart," Featherstar said. A slim she-cat walked toward Greypaw, her long tail swishing back and forth. She touched noses with him and then led him to Stormwing and Rainpaw.

Sparrowkit's stomach did a somersault. Featherstar's yellow eyes turned to her, "Sparrowkit, from this day forward you will be known as Sparrowpaw. Will you accept your new name, and therefore accept your new status as an apprentice?"

"Yes."

**Should I continue? BTW, sorry if the camp description was a little hard to follow. If it is, give me a suggestion on how to fix it and I will! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to my reviewers: **

**Princess Cat Lady: ****Thanks! The feather thing was my friends idea :) **

**LakespiritofForestClan:**** Thank you for the review, cool name btw. ^^**

"_Yes."_

"Then Sparrowpaw, your new mentor will be Frostwing," A small cat jumped out of the shadow, her pale blue-grey pelt almost glowing in the half-light. Her light yellow eyes looked at her with pride as they touched noses, and she held her small head high. Her head came up past her shoulder, Frostwing was known for her small size.

Her other two littermates walked forward, and they all settled in front of Featherstar. She yowled at the top of her lungs, "Witness the beginning of three new wariors: Sparrowpaw!" The clan repeated her name, chanting it until a flick of Featherstar's tail silenced them, "Greypaw!" The clan chanted again, and then, "Rainpaw! Rainpaw!"

The cats slowly began to disperse, and Featherstar said something into Windscar's ear. She dropped down from her perch, then walked up to them, "I want all three of you to first go around the entire territory today, in case your journey didn't take you completely around." Rainpaw's ears dipped a little. Featherstar's eyes softened, "First though, you must be exhausted, so I want you to take a nap until noon, alright?" Sparrowpaw smiled sheepishly, but she was right. Sparrowpaw was ready to fall over on her feet.

"Go ahead to your nest," Frostwing said to her, "I need to go around the church and make sure there aren't any hornet nests forming with Nightclaw." Sparrowpaw's ears perked up, "Hornet nests?"

Frostwing nodded, then took off in search for her companion. Her other littermates had already wandered off, back to their nests. She looked down below her, onto the floor, where Windscar was organizing patrols. Small groups of cats were leaving, one by one. Their territory was huge, so most cats spent their time patrolling. They hunted while running and scent-marking, and only around once a day did the normal hunting patrols go off.

She looked up, into the highest parts of the nest. The two medicines cats, Spiderthread, an old wizened cat who's paws were greenish from all the herbs she had been mixing, and her serious apprentice, Swiftpaw. She could see them sorting herbs from last night. Spiderthread moved methodically and carefully, while Swiftpaw mixed poultices.

Sparrowpaw yawned and walked to her nest, which was nestled next to her siblings. She laid down, and instantly fell asleep.

She awoke to Greypaw shaking her shoulder, "Wake up!" Sparrowpaw stretched out luxuriously, then looked around. The midday light shone through the cracks, and she could hear an apprentice and their mentor practicing on the shingled roof above them. "It's time to go around the territory."

Sparrowpaw bolted upright, and they rushed across the rafters. Below them, the fresh-kill pile had several cats grouped around it, selecting and despositing food. The rest were out patrolling, or otherwise training or hunting somewhere in the territory. Featherstar was sitting and talking with some of the elders, who slept on the bottom floor amongst piles of feathers and what moss they could find around the rooftops. She skidded to a halt in front of her new mentor and the others. Stormwing looking at her with disdain. She tried not to scowl at him as they began to descend.

As they climbed inbetween the ledges and gargoyles, she noticed a huge welt on Frostwing's front left leg. It was causing her to limp slightly, and she winced whenever they had to leap downwards.

They rounded a corner, and a returning patrol, carrying various birds and a couple squirrels, stopped in front of them.

"Hi Redpaw!" Rainpaw called cheerfully. Redpaw tried to say something around his mouthful of pigeon, but only some downy feathers burst out, fluttering down to the ground in the breeze. Frostwing nodded politely to Redpaw's mentor, Owltail, who's large owl feather bobbed in return. The two other cats, a loner named Randal and a tom named Oakheart trailed behind them a little. Sparrowpaw pressed herself against the wall, waiting for Redpaw to slink around her. She glanced up, it was cloudy, per usual, and the sky still held that tired, morning look about it.

It took them several minutes to maneuver around each other, and as Rainpaw tried to squeeze past Oakheart bushy brown tail, Sparrowpaw said, "Judging by your tail you did run into a nest?" Frostwing nodded, wincing a little, "Nightclaw got the worst of it though, even though it was a small nest. They were nasty things, the black and white kind." Sparrowpaw winced, even though she was a kit, she knew everything about the white and black hornets. Regular wasps and bees you could play with, in fact, that was encouraged. Hornets, on the other hand, escpecially black and white ones, were to be left alone, and to be run away from. She shook her head, she wasn't a kit anymore, she was an apprentice.

They finally managed to get around the other patrol, and as pairs they rushed across the ground to the nearest rooftop.

"Alright, Rainpaw and I will go in this direction, we'll meet you guys back here at sundown." Stormwing turned around with a swish of his tail and they were gone, rushing across the shingles, not even worrying about their answer.

"We'll go this way, around near the Gardenclan areas," Frostwing said, "We'll be here by sundown as well."

Frostwing took off, her tail flying behind her. Sparrowpaw followed, trying not slip across and fall over the edge. They ran around the edge of the roof they were on now, then fell easily into a jump to the next. A couple of streets later, they stopped by a large building where the twolegs cut up their prey and gave it to other twolegs. Sparrowpaw shook her head in exasperation, why do they cut their prey if their teeth would simply do that later?

"Sparrowpaw, as Roofclan, we have the largest territory. We own all of the rooftops over the entire city, which not only gives us the tactical advantage over Alleyclan and Gardenclan, but it protects us agianst them. Amongst the other clans, we're viewed as a neutral force, so no one bothers us." _Except for Alleyclan, who attack even the youngest kits if they set a toe on the ground, and Bloodfang, who nearly killed me!_ But Sparrowpaw kept her mouth shut.

"Anyways, we'll be going around the Gardenclan areas," Frostwing said, "Tell me, who are the Gardenclan cats?"

Sparrowpaw's tail twitched in excitement, she was going to prove to her mentor that she wasn't some useless kit, "Gardenclan cats are more peaceful, and they live within the gardens and parks within the city, but mostly within the largest park, the.. one with the.. oak trees?" Frostwing nodded, "Yes, but you missed that even though they are peaceful cats, they are a formidable foe as everyone in the clan can be considered a medicine-cat to some extent. They have the most amount of herbs and access to herbs, as well as a relatively small territory."

Sparrowpaw frowned, "Wouldn't a smaller territory mean less cats in the clan, though?"

Frostwing nodded, "Yes, they also have to smallest amount of cats, but they also have quite a few formidable warriors. Now, what about Alleyclan, and Tunnelclan?"

"Alleyclan are cats that rule the streets, and they mostly patrol and hunt at night, and they also claim the docks and port area." Sparrowpaw said.

"Right, except that they also are the most susceptible to the twolegs and their raids," Frostwing said, "And Tunnelclan?"

"They live in the sewers," Sparrowpaw wrinkled her nose, "They're also easy to track as they smell like two-leg dirt." Frostwing sighed, "Tunnelclan are a very misunderstood clan. Their territory _is_ in the sewers, but they only patrol the areas where the purified water flows out to sea. And they also have access to rural areas of the city, so no one truly knows how many cats are in Tunnelclan."

Frostwing stood up, and scanned the shingled roofs around them, "Use landmarks like the twoleg prey centers and their prey piles to navigate the city. Pretty soon you'll recognize that each building has its own distinct smell." She jumped across the alley in front of them, "Jump."  
>Sparrowpaw stared at the huge gap in front of her. It was almost as large as the jump she had attempted that morning while running from Bloodfang.<p>

She backed up, and ran forward. She closed her eyes, suddenly terrified. Her paws met open air, and once again she was caught by the two-leg pelts. She clumsily climbed up to where Frostwing stood, shaking her head, "You need to keep your eyes open, and push off with both your front and back legs. It's essential that you learn that, because it will help you learn how to hunt."

Sparrowpaw felt her heart skip a beat. She knew that Frostwing didn't mean hunting as in creeping up to your prey and pouncing, although most cats did do that. In her clan, only the most skilled warriors wait for a larger bird fly past them, then jump a force the bird to the ground. It could only be done at night, making it all the more dangerous, and you had to jump off only the tallest buildings. Most cats jumped off the second-largest cathedral in the city, as it had tall buildings around it as well that could catch you in the two-leg pelts if you missed. The cathedral they lived in was a isolated mountain, if you fell, or if you missed, you die. Few warriors hunted off of their home, and fewer lived to become an elder to tell the tale to the smallest of kits. She shuddered, whether from fear of excitement, she didn't know.

Sparrowpaw finally reached the shingled roof, were her mentor was impatiently lashing her tail. "Follow me," Frostwing said, and took off. The following gaps were smaller, more easy to jump across. Frostwing skidded to a halt in front of her, expertly stopping at the edge of the building. Sparrowpaw slid to a much less graceful stop, nearly flying over the edge.

Sparrowpaw gasped, she realized that in her early morning trek, she had missed a huge part of the city all together. In front of her was the twoleg river, one that was said to have been made by them. Though the twolegs were barbaric in a sense, they could make amazing and strange creations, ones that amazed and bewildered her. This was one of them, a river. The towlegs had built a river, and used large floating nests to cross and swim in them. Though it was still early, the canal was already bustling with activity. Twolegs set up small, insubstantial nests that arrived by morning and left by the evening. Small, colorful things, _to decorate your nest?_, were displayed proudly. Occasionally a twoleg would walk up and grab one, speaking to the other and handing them something before walking off with it. She shrugged, twolegs were so strange.

Other twolegs used the floating nests to swim down the river. A huge nest lazily floated by, it's bulky and awkward form bumping against the sides. It belched up a huge column of smoke and yowled a deep, ear-splitting call.

"That's ours!" Frosting called and suddenly jumped down to the ledge five tail-lengths below them. Sparrowpaw followed, clumsily avoiding a large plant partially encased in stone, much like the ones the medicine cat and her apprentice had back inside the camp.

Frostwing used a pipe that let water flow down it during rainstorms _what was the pipe called… a… gutter?_ to climb down to the next ledge_, _She shook her head, it was something she needed to ask Frostwing later. Sparrowpaw followed, narrowly avoiding a huge a likely deadly fall. The next jump was harder, but required less balance, and more speed. Below them was a larger, wider ledge. A twoleg was sitting, drinking some oddly colored water. He was looking a… _newspaper, right?_ and wasn't paying any attention to the two clan cats above him.

Frosting looked at her a mouthed, 'On three..' she lashed her tail once, twice, and they jumped. Sparrowpaw landed neatly next to his legs, causing him to jump and aim a kick at her, yowling something loudly. She narrowly avoided his kick and squeezed inbetween the bars of the ledge. Frostwing had somehow landed on the rail of the ledge and was jumping down to the ground. Sparrowpaw climbed down to the next ledge, and jumped.

"For your first time, Sparrowpaw, you did a fairly good job," Frostwing said, "We have to move, and by the way, that ledge we just narrowly avoided our deaths on was called a _balcony_, at least that's what Randal says."

They ran across the twoleg path quickly, weaving between the legs of the twolegs, at least, Frostwing did. Sparrowpaw yelped and narrowly avoided getting run over by one, getting touched by a twoleg kit, and almost ran into one of the little nests. Frostwing sighed and ran into the fray, grabbed Sparrowkit by the scruff and dragged her out.

"Alright, next time make sure you cross where there aren't any of the twoleg nests," Frostwing said and jumped onto the wall that marked the boundary between the river and the street. Frostwing bolted down the wall, with Sparrowpaw trailing behind her. They raced the floating twoleg nest, although Sparrowpaw still had no idea why. When they were slightly in front of it, Frostwing yowled, "On my count, jump off the ledge and onto the boat, try to land on the floor, then run up those stairs," Sparrowpaw looked over, hoping that the ledges that ascended upwards were what she meant, "and climb onto the roof of the boat, wait for me there!" Sparrowpaw called, "What if I miss?"

"Hope that there aren't and Tunnelclan cats patrolling the water, they consider that their territory as well!" Frostwing replied, "No, really, just swim across!" Sparrowpaw repressed a small yelp of fear, she didn't know how to swim.  
>"One!"<p>

"Two!"

"Three!" Frostwing used her tail to shove her off the ledge. Sparrowpaw cried out and jumped, letting her paws spread out in the air. She landed, rolling on impact and skidding across the floor. She stood and bolted up the stairs, then tried to climb up onto the roof.

Finally, she managed to climb onto the roof. Frostwing bounded on the ledge, and with a grunt she pushed off. She sailed through the air, neatly landing next to her. Sparrowpaw blinked and couple of times in surprise.

"Good job, now tell me, where would be a good place to get off this thing and onto the other side of the canal?" Frostwing said briskly. Sparrowpaw looked around, unsure. Frostwing smirked, "Exactly, the hardest part is jumping off the boat, which is why you can never be sure where you'll get off the boat. When you jump onto one, you need to be prepared to make a huge detour. If we were on patrol, we'd never use a boat. Oh, that's what these things are called. Boats, strange names, huh?" Frostwing said, "Usually, we'd use a bridge," she pointed ahead, "but boats give us a sort of advantage, if you can see a way to jump on and off, it a much faster way to cross than to find a bridge. Of course, patrolling cats still don't want to risk missing and having to wait, or worse, falling into the water. Plus, patrolling cats usually know where all the bridges are, so they plan their routes with the bridges in mind. Anyways, here's our stop." Frostwing stood and watched the bridge draw near, there were pots holding large, viney plants along the bottom of the bridge. Red flowers buzzing with bees scattered the greenery. They were at least seven tail-lengths off the top of the boat.

"Use the vines to climb up to the bridge," Frostwing said, "Alright… now!" Sparropaw pushed off the boat, hoping she would be strong enough to reach. She pushed with her hind legs and front legs, like Frostwing had told her earlier. Her front paws stretched out, reaching for the vines. Her claws raked across the leaves, scattering the insects which buzzed indignantly. The pot swung violently as she climbed her way up to the bridge.

Frostwing smiled her approval, then they ran across the bridge to the other bustling street. Frostwing effortlessly darted through the crowd, and Sparrowpaw tried to weave through the legs like Frostwing did, only to end up getting lost in the crowd. Once again, Frostwing dove into the fray to pull her out, barely managed to not get run over as well.

"That's something we're going to have to work on, Sparrowpaw," Frostwing stated and they made the slow ascent up the building. They reached the shingled rooftops, then ran the rest of the way until they finally reached the edge of the park. After a while of jumping, they stopped. In front of Sparrowpaw was an expanse of green, larger than she had ever seen before, even when she had explored the territory herself. Her journey hadn't taken her here. Frostwing smiled, "This is where Gardenclan lives, and see those houses on the other side?"

Sparrowpaw nodded, "Is that where they patrol as well?"

"Yes, they consider that area and the streets as their territory. They use the gardens to hunt for prey, and for herbs. However their home is somewhere deep inside the park." Frostwing added, "It's been a long time since anyone last invaded another clan's territory for some reason or another… so everyone has almost forgotten where each of the other clans nests are."

Sparrowpaw gazed out into the greenery and the trees in awe. A stream wove its way through the park. It became a two-leg river after it exited, likely feeding itself into the larger two-leg river they had seen earlier. In the middle of the park she could see a lake, with large, lanky willows lining the edge. Nearby was a huge grove of tall pine trees. Several other ponds glimmered in the early morning light. Around the lake, ponds, and pine trees a thick carpet of trees grew. Behind the park smaller houses with gardens dotted the city.

Frostwing chuckled throatily, "C'mon, I still have to show you the rest of the city before cobwebs grow in your gaping mouth." Sparrowpaw snapped her jaw shut and felt her face grow hot. Frostwing turned tail and ran across the roof and leapt across the gap. As Sparrowpaw followed, her mentor called out, "I'm just giving you a general sense of where the major landmarks of the city are, you'll find your own shortcuts later."

They circled the entirety of Gardenclan's territory, which took up the rest of the morning. As they settled to rest for a moment, Sparrowpaw stared out at the park. They crossed over the stream earlier, having to climb down to the street and then over a bridge again.

The pines swayed languidly in the breeze, their dark limbs waving gently. Suddenly, a dark shape darted from on branch to another, then a moment later darted through the air and collided with an unfortunate bird which chose the wrong moment to attempt flight. She could just barely see the jerky darting movement of the figure as it darted down the trunk of the tree. It disappeared, into the thick green mat of the rest of the trees.

"Come, Sparrowpaw, we have a lot more to see," Frostwing said. Sparrowpaw gave the pine a final glance and they set off across the rest of the rooftops.

The sky was just barely starting to color orange when Frostwing stopped her again. Sparrowpaw felt a strange sense of dread, this was where she had met Bloodfang.

"What happened here?" Frostwing murmured. The building and the structures around it were burned and completely blackened. The structure was still smoking, and twolegs were still gathered around the structure. Two of them were yowling and screaming at the others, and finally several other similar looking twolegs dove in and pounced on them, then dragged them to a small monster. The monster swallowed the two screaming twolegs and the ones who tackled them, then it roared away.

"I'm sorry, Sparrowpaw, but we need to return to the camp now… we have to report what we saw to Featherstar. I'm sure she already knows about the fire, but…" Frostwing shook her head, "We'll finish everything else tomorrow."

"It's fine… I walked around here this morning," Sparrowpaw shuddered, "I was even walking across this building." She wasn't going to tell Frostwing about Bloodfang. She was still barely an apprentice; no one would believe her. Even though Blooodfang was rumored to be a bloodthirsty murderer, Featherstar would probably just bring it up at the next gathering, only to have it denied by the Alleyclan leader himself, Duskstar.

Finally, they reached the cathedral. It sat tall in the center of a large clearing, surrounded by trees and hard stone ground. The largest tree stretched up the side of the smaller, squatter building. A couple of twolegs walked around the tiny garden amongst small stones that jutted out of the ground.

Frostwing led her across another alleyway and around the _courtyard… right?_ to a twoleg fresh-kill pile. In front of the building was a structure made up of interwoven pieces of wood, and inside Sparrowpaw could see twolegs feasting upon their prey, using small pieces of metal to cut it into pieces and feed it into their mouths. Sparrowpaw shook her head, twolegs were so strange.

They climbed down the side of the building, this time it was much easier as the shingled rooftop sloped downward, past the top and third floor down to the second. They leapt across to a balconey, and then jumped off and down to the wood and metal structure. No one seemed to notice. Sparrowpaw padded across it easily, the crisscrossed design was simple to walk on. Frostwing jumped down, signaling with her tail to follow.

As she jumped down, she suddenly felt a hard and extremely painful yank on her tail. She yowled out in pain, then whipped around to claw whatever had grabbed her. A small twoleg kit yowled something out excitedly, pulling her back. It's small, pink had gripped her tail painfully, she could feel the joints popping angrily. A larger twoleg grabbed the other shoulder and pulled her hands back, looking at Sparrowpaw with _sympathetic?_ eyes. The younger one let her tail go, and she ran up to Frostwing. Frostwing hissed at the twoleg kit and then nudged Sparrowpaw forward. They ran across to the cathedral, then up the tree trunk and into the branches. Frostwing blocked her ascent with her tail, "Wait, they're still watching. If we hide here, they'll lose interest and forget about us."

Frostwing crawled up a branch and peered through the leaves. The twolegs were still speaking to each other and watching the tree. Finally, a taller one said something to them and they turned around and continued to eat. Frostwing sighed and turned around, "We can go."

Sparrowpaw climbed down the trunk and onto a smaller branch. She jumped onto a ledge onto the side of the building, and made their ascent up the cathedral walls. She jumped up, clawing her way along a gargoyles neck. She could see the claw marks of her clanmates in the stone. She shifted around the neck and onto the top, relieved to not be hanging above her death. Frostwing was a few tail lengths in front of her, leaping across the rows and rows of stone statues.

Finally, they reached the rooftop and the small hole to their camp.

They slinked inside, and found the camp in an uproar.

**Alright, if you review, I'll post the next chapter. So, why do you think the camp is in an uproar? Answer in your review, if you get the answer right I'll let you insert your cat name in the story (So, if you answer correctly and want to have a cat named Somethingtail in the story, I'll be sure to somehow incorporate the cat in the story. Maybe Sparrowpaw will speak to him or her during the oncoming gathering). **

**Anyways, what do you think? Do you like the different-ness of these clans? Or is it too much? Do you want more detail in some places, or less? **

**As for the city, I based the park off of Central Park in New York, though maybe not as huge, and the city is a mix between Gdansk, Poland, and what I've seen from pictures of Venice, Italy. Just, not as many canals. Just two or three major ones and several smaller stream-like ones. If you need any clarification on what's what and who's who and why's that and how is he or she, then just ask. I'll try to answer as best as I can. **

**Review, damnit! This is more than 4000 words long!**


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